Kevin Garnett, right, will not play in the Boston Celtics' showdown with the Miami Heat. (AP Photo)

BOSTON—The news wasn’t all bad for the Celtics here at TD Garden on Monday night. The strained adductor muscle that has been bothering power forward Kevin Garnett lately, it turns out, was feeling good enough to for him to get on the floor. The problem, though, is that Garnett showed up to tonight’s game against Miami feeling too sick to play.

“He came,” coach Doc Rivers said. “He didn’t come to shootaround. He came and he is in there (the locker room) now. But right when I looked at home, I just said, ‘You’re not playing.’ I mean, he wanted to play. But even Eddie (Lacerte, the Celtics’ trainer) told me, ‘Tell him not to play.’”

Rivers did say that Garnett, averaging 14.8 points and 7.8 rebounds this year, would have played if it had not been for the illness.

The loss of Garnett figures to make an already difficult challenge all the tougher. Miami is riding a 22-game winning streak, tied for second-longest in the history of the NBA. When the Celtics beat the Heat here back on January 27, on the day it was announced that Rajon Rondo would miss the rest of the year with a knee injury, Garnett came through with 24 points, 11 rebounds and four assists.